FARMINGTON — Franklin County Cpl. Nate Bean will be getting a new police dog.
His current dog, Diesel, is 9 years old and is nearing the end of his career, Lt. David Rackliffe told commissioners Tuesday.
Bean and Rackliffe tested a 12-month-old Dutch Shepherd named Bain, and they liked what they saw, Rackliffe said.
Commissioners unanimously voted to allow the purchase of the dog for $6,000 and an additional $500 for his first veterinary appointment.
In other Sheriff’s Department business, commissioners voted 2-1 to allow the Sheriff’s Office to buy a new wireless system and data server, and an interview camera for $15,590. Commissioners also unanimously approved upgrading body armor vests for detectives for $1,597.
The money for the purchases will come from the sheriff’s Asset Forfeiture Account. Commissioners accepted the county’s share of forfeiture money from a drug bust on April 7 last year in Avon. The county’s share was $93,606.
Commission Chairman Gary McGrane of Jay opposed the vote on the equipment. He wanted to delay the purchase until a new information technology systems administrator was on board to make sure it was compatible with existing systems.
The system is not, and should not, be accessible to others, because it contains evidence, Rackliffe said. It is designed and built by the same company that manufactures the cruiser camera systems.
The national trend is to have officers wear body cameras and to record interactions with citizens, Rackliffe said.
“National studies have shown that when suspects know they are being recorded, they are less likely to use force against police,” Rackliffe said. “Those same studies show that when police know they are being recorded, personnel complaints against officers go down.”
The Sheriff’s Office has acquired seven digital, dash-mounted cruiser cameras in the past year and expects to have two more by the end of the summer. These were acquired through grants with minimal expense to the county, Rackliffe said.
He said the digital data take up a lot of space in the storage system.
The current data storage system is over-burdened and was never designed to hold the volume of digital evidence deputies are collecting. The system is used for digital evidence including recordings collected from the cruiser cameras, he said.
He said he has to delete digital evidence on a weekly basis that should be retained longer per policy.
The software provided with the new data server and wireless system is expected to allow better interface with that digital evidence. Currently, deputies have one computer to manually download digital recordings from their cruisers. The new system would allow access from up to five computers in the building.
Another need is an interview-,room camera system Rackliffe said. Deputies previously pieced together old equipment to make a recording system, but it is not working anymore.
The new system allows two simultaneous recordings of the interview room: ceiling-down and waist-level views, as well as an audio recording of the conversation.
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